PRESS RELEASE
It has come to our notice that the government has proposed a new levy on sanitation and pollution as part of measures to enhance sanitation challenges in the country
The new levy that aims at salvaging the sanitation sector is welcome news to the office of Damak Sanitation & Health Watch by the government intentions to adopt a new dimensional approach to curb the situation.
Poor sanitation in Ghana according to statistics cost the country a whopping Ghc420 million annually which is 1.6% of the national Ghana Domestic Product (GDP).
The new levy which was announced by the then Caretaker Finance Minister, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu during the 2021 mid-budget reading said; the Sanitation and Pollution Levy of 10 pesewas will be incorporated into the proposed fuel levy…the idea was to help address issues of sanitation in the country.
The government led by the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has since assumption in an office pledged to make Accra the clean city in Africa but that foresight has never been a reality following the unavailability of logistics and funds.
Damak Sanitation & Health watch over the years expressed concerns about sanitation challenges in the country of which we organized press conferences amidst engaging health authorities in our bid to dialogue on strenuous measures to mitigate the situation but the problem seems not resolving.
The principal streets of Accra and Kumasi have been engulfed with waste in the glare of city authorities. Sanitation issues in our cities have become a health threat to the society of late calls for prudent stakeholders’ engagement.
However, the 10 pesewas levy proposed by the government, Damak Sanitation & Health Watch is in full support of the sanitation and pollution levy that aims at giving a new look in the sanitation sector because sanitation alone drains a huge sum of monies from the government coffers.
That notwithstanding, we believe it’s every Ghanaian interest to have a clean environment hence, we urged members of parliament, especially the minority to look beyond politics and forge towards implementing the levy to confront sanitation challenges in the country.
Damak Sanitation & Health Watch believes every Ghanaian health is our care thus urging all and sundry to as a matter of national interest approach issues relating to sanitation as a household property by confronting it in their capacities for better Ghana.
“We thus charge the government to also constitute reliable accessible road map to tackle waste management in all the MMDCEs in the country”.
Let us not forget, we want to use this opportunity to remind the public that the novel coronavirus is still with us and that, we should not lose our guard in observing the safety protocols and together, we conquer the deadly virus.
Thank you
…..Signed…….
Akgri Mbabugri Daniel
Director,
Damak Sanitation & Health watch
0248998510
